The Fastest Way to a Person’s Heart

Out of desperation, they sat across from their pastor on either end of the couch. They leaned away from one another, legs crossed, and arms folded in a most protective posture. This husband and wife were deep into marital struggles.

The pastor listened and gently responded with probing questions, trying to find the source of their pain. The pastor asked of the wife, “What is the most important thing you would like from your husband?” She quickly responded with a muffled sob, “I just wish he would tell me that he loved me.” To which, the husband drew himself upright and scoffed, “I eat your cooking, don’t I?”

I’m still asking our God of unfailing love to teach me how to love Him more. Am I still in love with Jesus? The church in Ephesus, just like this couple, had forsaken their first love. Has our love for Jesus faded, grown lukewarm, or even gone cold? How do we fall in love with Jesus, and grow deeper and deeper in love with Him?

I love our Christmas series this year—The Table. It invites us back to a time and place when we used to dance with joyful expectancy as Christmas drew near each year. “The Table” invites us to a time and place where we spend less on ourselves and instead give more of ourselves. “The Table” invites us to a time and place where we can know more of God’s love and then share more of God’s love—with family, friends, and neighbors.

Walking in the door every day doesn’t necessarily tell my wife that I love her, any more than walking into church every week tells God that I love Him. Ellen wants me to tell her. She wants me to show her. Love undemonstrated is love unfulfilled. It’s the same with God.

Father, teach us how to love You more. May our love for You grow deeper and stronger with each passing day. May You fill us with Your love, that we might share Your love all through the Christmas season and this new year.